People are terrified of change. It's part of human nature. Look at NFL fans - scared, confused, and alone until like Week 4 before they get the hang of the two or three rule changes that happen every single season.
But we're not pessimists by nature. We're glass-half-full type of gals. So we're just gonna roll with Bud Selig's recent announcement and hope for the best.
Baseball's owners unanimously approved Jim Crane as the new Houston Astros' owner Thursday morning, which means the team will say goodbye to National League rules and move from the six-team NL Central to the four-team American League West as part of his agreement to buy the club. Now everything is even-steven with six five-team divisions all through baseball.
The commissioner also announced that MLB will be adding two Wild Card Teams to the mix (one in each league obviously) to bring the playoff team total to ten clubs vying for a shot at the World Series. These shenanigans could begin as early as next season, but definitely by 2013.
The sale of the Astros tied the knot on the set-up of 15 teams in each league, which means there will be Interleague games all over the place. Selig confirmed National League vs. American League contests will start "from Opening Day on," but he apparently thinks this will have no effect on the current mystery and excitement of the World Series.
Designated hitter rules will remain the same of course, and I guess so will the fact that the All-Star game will determine who gets home field advantage throughout the Fall Classic. We've always thought that was dumb as hell, but that's probably why we don't get paid the big bucks.
Here's the oddest part about this whole change: The two Wild Card clubs are going to have a one-game playoff prior to the League Division Series round, totally ruining the magic that used to be Game 163, and squashing any hopes of another day like Wild Card Wednesday. Oh well, fair is fair.
We'd love nothing more than to hear your thoughts on this whole thing.
[Daily Pitch]
5 comments:
I wish there was a way to eliminate year-round interleague play. That's stupid.
There really is no way to eliminate it, but what really sucks is that this new alignment will take important intra-divisional games away from teams who otherwise depend on them for padding in their standings.
Bud Selig has fucked up the game of baseball more than anyone or anything(including Pete Rose and PEDs), and his retirement cannot come soon enough for me.
That said, the fact that the Cardinals won't have to make 3-4 trips/year to that joke of a stadium known as the Juice Box bothers me not one bit. Adios Tal's Hill and the pop fly home runs to LF.
I am so done with interleague play. In my opinion it's stupid, and NL teams should probably start adding a DH to keep up.
And I'm with HolyDiver - Bud Selig can go anytime now.
HAA! I hope everyone mouses over that picture.
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